Emeryville man slain after Oakland crash

Family is offering reward for tips leading to killers' arrest, conviction

Updated 4:52 pm, Thursday, June 13, 2013

A 22-year-old man from Emeryville was shot and killed in North Oakland on his way home from a basketball game late Wednesday after a confrontation with two men who had rear-ended his car, police said.

Aya Nakano, who would have turned 23 on Thursday, had left a pick-up basketball game at UC Berkeley and was driving a silver Jeep Cherokee south on Market Street near Stanford Avenue when he was rear-ended shortly before 11 p.m., police said.

Nakano and the driver of the other car, described as a newer four-door silver sedan, pulled to the curb, said Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland police spokeswoman.

"He did the right thing," Watson said. "He was involved in a collision, and he pulled over."

After Nakano got out of his car, he and the two men who were in the sedan got into some sort of confrontation, Watson said. One of the other men pulled out a gun and shot Nakano.

Nakano died at the scene, while the two men fled south on Market Street, Watson said. No arrests have been made. Police said the city's ShotSpotter alert system detected one shot.

Photo: Oakland Police Department, Courtesy

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Aya Nakano, 22, of Emeryville was shot dead after his car was rear-ended in North Oakland in 2013.

Aya Nakano, 22, of Emeryville was shot dead after his car was rear-ended in North Oakland in 2013.

Photo: Oakland Police Department, Courtesy

Emeryville man slain after Oakland crash

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"This is a good young man doing all the right things, and unfortunately, he was shot and killed," Watson said. "What the reasons were, we're still trying to figure that out."

Family members came to the scene Thursday to pass out flyers featuring a picture of Nakano, who graduated from Sacred Heart Preparatory school in Atherton in 2008, according to school officials.

The family is offering a $5,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of the assailants.

"He was enjoying himself. He was happy to have a job, happy to be home in the Bay Area," his uncle Troy Aquino told reporters. "He was just a happy guy. He's always been quiet, always been friendly. His parents always joked around with him - don't be a hero. Whenever there's trouble, just stay away from it."

Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call city homicide investigators at (510) 238-3821.